The biological and solubility pumps and their role in transporting atmospheric carbon to the deep sea.
(Figure courtesy of Oscar Schofield, Rutgers
University.)

Climate Variability, Ocean Circulation, and Ecosystems

The ocean stores heat and carbon dioxide, and redistributes them
via the large-scale circulation. Both the storage capacity and
redistribution patterns are affected by climate change, and the ocean
in turn may modify climate through various feedback mechanisms.
Variability in ocean-atmosphere feedback on climate time scales may
have profound affects on ecosystems through habitat changes (e.g.
increasing mean temperature) or through modulation of shorter time
scale phenomena (e.g. the El-Nino/Southern Oscillation cycle).